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General Discussion / Re: kaywhyn's Blog
« on: January 24, 2021, 05:11:53 AM »
Is your main issue trouble falling asleep, or waking up after a few hours? I mostly have experience with the former (though this night -- right now in fact as I'm writing this post -- I woke up randomly in the middle of the night, so maybe that's an indication what I'm writing might hold more generally considering I was working on something exciting the previous evening that kept occupying my mind).
I think the most important thing is having a somewhat consistent schedule and a wind down routine. I do take a 25 minute nap every day after lunch and often I manage to fall asleep within 2 minutes as its so consistent every day. Still I can sleep for a 9 hours per night if I want to. (So I don't think napping per se is an issue, but if you feel the need to nap, maybe fix a time and duration every day rather than doing it ad hoc when you're feeling tired/bored.) Now, falling asleep at night in the first place is trickier for me than after lunch as I'm less consistent in what I do before going to bed. If I can't fall asleep it's mostly because I'm excited about something and I can't get my mind off it. That's where a wind down routine should be helpful, as once you do it regularly you can just follow it without having to make a conscious decision to do it, and (if it's long enough) take your mind off whatever you were thinking about. That could e.g. be taking a shower, brushing your teeth, then reading a few pages of a book while in bed. Or maybe even watching an episode of some series (though some might advise against that).
I once took this self-guided course (https://www.sleepio.com/) when I had free access to it; while I don't want to unequivocally promote it, it seemed very sensible to me (and a good portion of what I'm writing is also suggested there).
Generally, it is advised to avoid screen time before going to bed. It doesn't seem strictly necessary to me (because I'm bad at it and often I still manage to fall asleep), but if you're having severe troubles it might be. A low effort variant (though the effectiveness is disputed) is to use some software (e.g. https://justgetflux.com/) to shift your screen to a more red tone in the evening, based on the claim that it's mostly the blue wavelengths that prevent you from sleeping.
Another thing suggested in the course was that you should unconsciously associate your bed with sleep, so don't use it for anything else (which might dispute my earlier suggestion of reading a book in bed, so you could do that in a comfy chair instead). But more importantly that also means if you don't manage to fall asleep, you should give up after a little while (say 15 minutes), do something else and then try again, lest you unconsciously start associating your bed with the struggle to fall asleep and all the bad thoughts that accompany that. (That's why I got up to write this post rather than stay in bed.)
Then of course there's going outside and/or having some physical exercise (remark: the course advises not to work out close before bed time), which quite obviously helps too. I remember when travelling and being out all day I could fall asleep at 9 pm no problem, and you've probably had a similar experience, reading your first post.
A colleague of mine has had sleeping issues of a similar severity as you describe (can't sleep more than 2 hrs a night). She improved on it by being very strict about cutting screen time after (I think) 7:30 pm or so, and as far as I understand having a very clear evening routine from then until bed time. It's tough and takes a lot of discipline (and I'm not nearly there myself, but then I have less incentive as my troubles aren't as severe), but in severe cases it might be what is needed?
Talking about drugs, as far as I'm aware the legal classification (and social perception) of drugs is mostly unscientific bogus that doesn't follow any clear criteria. So if you're fine with alcohol, you're already taking one of the more serious drugs with respect to e.g. associated health risks, and the line you draw isn't really much of a line along some spectrum. (That said, I've never taken any to help me with sleep, so I can't advise on that.)
I think the most important thing is having a somewhat consistent schedule and a wind down routine. I do take a 25 minute nap every day after lunch and often I manage to fall asleep within 2 minutes as its so consistent every day. Still I can sleep for a 9 hours per night if I want to. (So I don't think napping per se is an issue, but if you feel the need to nap, maybe fix a time and duration every day rather than doing it ad hoc when you're feeling tired/bored.) Now, falling asleep at night in the first place is trickier for me than after lunch as I'm less consistent in what I do before going to bed. If I can't fall asleep it's mostly because I'm excited about something and I can't get my mind off it. That's where a wind down routine should be helpful, as once you do it regularly you can just follow it without having to make a conscious decision to do it, and (if it's long enough) take your mind off whatever you were thinking about. That could e.g. be taking a shower, brushing your teeth, then reading a few pages of a book while in bed. Or maybe even watching an episode of some series (though some might advise against that).
I once took this self-guided course (https://www.sleepio.com/) when I had free access to it; while I don't want to unequivocally promote it, it seemed very sensible to me (and a good portion of what I'm writing is also suggested there).
Generally, it is advised to avoid screen time before going to bed. It doesn't seem strictly necessary to me (because I'm bad at it and often I still manage to fall asleep), but if you're having severe troubles it might be. A low effort variant (though the effectiveness is disputed) is to use some software (e.g. https://justgetflux.com/) to shift your screen to a more red tone in the evening, based on the claim that it's mostly the blue wavelengths that prevent you from sleeping.
Another thing suggested in the course was that you should unconsciously associate your bed with sleep, so don't use it for anything else (which might dispute my earlier suggestion of reading a book in bed, so you could do that in a comfy chair instead). But more importantly that also means if you don't manage to fall asleep, you should give up after a little while (say 15 minutes), do something else and then try again, lest you unconsciously start associating your bed with the struggle to fall asleep and all the bad thoughts that accompany that. (That's why I got up to write this post rather than stay in bed.)
Then of course there's going outside and/or having some physical exercise (remark: the course advises not to work out close before bed time), which quite obviously helps too. I remember when travelling and being out all day I could fall asleep at 9 pm no problem, and you've probably had a similar experience, reading your first post.
A colleague of mine has had sleeping issues of a similar severity as you describe (can't sleep more than 2 hrs a night). She improved on it by being very strict about cutting screen time after (I think) 7:30 pm or so, and as far as I understand having a very clear evening routine from then until bed time. It's tough and takes a lot of discipline (and I'm not nearly there myself, but then I have less incentive as my troubles aren't as severe), but in severe cases it might be what is needed?
Talking about drugs, as far as I'm aware the legal classification (and social perception) of drugs is mostly unscientific bogus that doesn't follow any clear criteria. So if you're fine with alcohol, you're already taking one of the more serious drugs with respect to e.g. associated health risks, and the line you draw isn't really much of a line along some spectrum. (That said, I've never taken any to help me with sleep, so I can't advise on that.)